Oliver Bearman made it two in two for feature F2 race in Baku as Enzo Fittipaldi fended off Theo Pourchaire for second.

It was cloudy weather for the feature F2 race as Prema’s Oliver Bearman made a good start from pole against Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi as ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pouchaire moved up to third from Prema’s Frederik Vesti and ART’s Victor Martins.

The Frenchman jumped MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger as did Hitech GP’s Jak Crawford in seventh as a slow start from MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala dropped him to eighth from Carlin’s Zane Maloney and Trident’s Roman Stanek.

Majority of the field were on the supersoft tyre with DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa and Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar only ones on the medium tyre. At the front, Pourchaire made his move on Fittupaldi and Bearman to take the lead of the feature F2 race.

However, Bearman came back on him to retake the lead with Fittipaldi fending up Vesti and Martins. Behind them, Crawford jumped on Hauger with Daruvala trying to do the same on his teammate. But the Indian pitted first along with couple more.

In the space of few laps, everyone other than Iwasa and Hadjar pitted with the field under Virtual Safety Car after a stop for PHM Charouz’s Brad Benavides at Turn 4. It was Hadjar ahead of Iwasa in lead on different strategy from Bearman and Pourchaire.

Fittipaldi was third with Martins gaining to be fourth from Maini, who stopped last to be seventh. Even Hauger gained to be eighth with Vesti losing out in ninth from Van Amersfoort’s Richard Verschoor in the Top 10 from Crawford and Daruvala.

There was 5s penalty for Iwasa for VSC infringement as Vesti passed Verschoor, Hauger and Maini to move up to seventh. Daruvala, meanwhile, tried a move on Verschoor for 10th but went wide at Turn 1 to lose out to Crawford and Maloney in 13th.

The Indian was under investigation for rejoining unsafely at Turn 1 when he came close to Maloney. Even Vershcoor was under investigation for driving erratically while defending from Daruvala, who was eventually handed a 10s time penalty for unsafe rejoin.

The Dutchman, though, was cleared. While everything was subdued at the front, Fittipaldi started to reel Pourchaire in for net second and the Brazilian eventually made the move to take it, but the Frenchman stayed with him along with Martins just behind.

With the pit stops done, Bearman was in lead from Fittipaldi, Pourchaire and Martins closely packed. The Brit held his own to win the feature F2 race to make it a double in Baku as Fittipaldi held off Pourchaire and Martins to round out the Top 4.

Vesti was a distant fifth from Maini who defended well from Hauger, making up eight places from 14th. Another gainer running the alternate strategy was Hadjar in eighth with Verschoor and Crawford rounding out the Top 10.

 

UPDATE: Victor Martins has been disqualified from the Baku Feature race for a technical infringement on his ART Grand Prix car. The French driver had finished fourth. However, a post-race inspection found that the floor fins of the #6 car were 3.4mm below the reference plane, contravening Article 4.3.13 of the Technical Regulations.

These state that no part of the lower edge of the floor fins may be below the reference plane or more than 10mm above the reference plane. As a result, Martins has been disqualified from the results. This promotes PREMA Racing’s Frederik Vesti to fourth in the final classification, whilst DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc moves into the final points-paying position in 10th. In the Teams’ Championship, ART Grand Prix drop to third, behind DAMS.

Here’s reprimand for Novalak: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Baku%20Event%20-%20OFFENCE%20-%20Car%2021%20-%20more%20than%20one%20change%20of%20direction%20to%20defend.pdf

Here’s fine for Trident: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Baku%20Event%20-%20OFFENCE%20-%20Trident%20-%20breach%20of%20RD%20Event%20Notes%2012.2%20-%20wheel%20nuts.pdf

Here’s Hadjar and Hitech GP not getting: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Baku%20Event%20-%20DECISION%20-%20Car%2010%20-%20alleged%20failure%20to%20follow%20RD%20Event%20notes%20-%20wheel%20nuts.pdf

Here’s revised F2 results: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Baku%20Event%20-%20F2%20Race%202%20-%20final%20classification.pdf

Here’s how sprint F2 race panned out in Baku

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